Upset Kings

Mario Basler is seldom at a loss for words, but his reaction after his side progressed on to the German Cup's round of sixteen - at least if you took it without a grain of salt - was uncharacteristically sober.

"The team curfew is still one AM," the former Bayern and German national midfielder told reporters. "The players will be allowed to drink a small beer or two."

On Tuesday Basler's Trier came from two goals down to defeat second division Bielefeld, who played in the top flight last season, 4-2. Not a bad result for a team with a total annual budget of just 1.5 million euros ($2.2 million) that hovers between amateur and professional football.

It was the second time the underdogs had fought back to defeat a presumably far superior opponent. In the first round of the Cup in August, Trier knocked off first-division Hanover 3-1.

The team's unexpected success has unleashed a wave of football euphoria in the small Western German city. Eight to nine thousand spectators are expected for the next Cup match, and attendance at fourth-division games has swelled to as many 3,000.

It's a triumph for Basler, whose appointment last season was seen by many as a joke.

"No one thought he'd be up to the job," Andreas Arens - a sportswriter who covers the team for the local Wochenspiegel newspaper - told Deutsche Welle. "He attracts 300 people to his press conference because you know he's going to say something funny. But he directs his remarks precisely."

These days, everyone's laughing with Basler. That wasn't always the case.

The return of "Super Mario"

During his active career in the 1990s and early 2000s, Basler was an unusually gifted player who won titles with both Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich. He was the Bundesliga's joint-leading goal-scorer in 1995, and his feel for the ball was such that he scored directly from corner kicks three times in a single season.

Indeed, when current Bayern striker Mario Gomez was just beginning in the youth leagues, Basler was the original "Super Mario."

But Basler was known as much for his rough-edged personality as his prodigious skills. He made no secret of the fact he enjoyed drinking beer and smoking, and his cutting remarks - he once described a teammate with a new haircut as looking like "a car given a new paint job after it had been totaled" - didn't always go down well.

In November 1999, he was shipped out of Munich after some nocturnal amusements ended in a bar-room fight. He never recaptured his former glory, eventually retiring in 2004 after a one-year stint in Qatar.

Perhaps because of his colorful career, Basler had to begin his coaching career far lower down in the ranks than most players of his caliber. But his work in building up Trier's squad has been exemplary.

"The team consists of talented, hungry young players discovered by the scouts and experienced people that come from Basler himself," Arens said. "The two complement one another very well."

Strategically hogging the spotlight

One element in Trier's success is probably that all the attention devoted to the coach takes pressure off the squad. But those who know the team have no doubt that, despite his penchant for clowning around, he still commands his players' respect.

"He's the star but he speaks the players' own language," Arens said. "And on the pitch, there's no arguing with him. He regularly fires in free kicks past the goalkeeper in practice and has a great knowledge of tactics."

And Trier have certainly been inspired by Basler's self-confidence.

"If we get an attractive next opponent, maybe I'll apply for reinstatement as a player," the coach quipped after the Bielefeld match. "And we certainly wouldn't object if that next opponent were Bayern Munich."

Basler probably won't lace up his boots ever again in a professional match. Another of his remarks after the Bielefeld game, though, spoke volumes about his real future ambitions.

"I can learn an incredible amount here on my way toward working in the first-division," Basler told reporters.

If Trier continue making waves in the German Cup, Basler -- who was deemed almost uncoachable as a player -- may indeed soon find himself coaching one of the teams in Germany's top flight.

Author: Jefferson Chase
Editor: Michael Lawton